Raney and Bryant end chapter 5 by questioning the future of sports fandom and viewership. The question that they pose to the reader deals with the development of high definition television, and how it has brought the feeling of being at the game to the our living rooms. When they questioned if the high def experience would keep people at home watching the games instead of making the trek to the stadium it was in 2006, when high definition technology had just taken off. Now, most sporting events that are aired can be viewed in hi-def. Consequently, the threat of hi-def technology decreasing the attendance at the games has only increased. With that, professional sports leagues are attempting to implement changes, in order to fill their stadiums.
For example, an article from The Sports Journal, details how the NFL is using the blackout policy, and the criticisms that have developed against it. The article, “As NFL looks to pack stadiums, critics line up against blackout policy in comments to FCC" recounts the policy of blacking out the airing of games, unless the stadium is sold out, and describes the recent comments critics of the policy approached the FCC with. The article states, “This past season, 16 games were blacked out, or about 6 percent of the league’s total games. That is on the low range of historical trends. When the FCC first imposed the blackout rule four decades ago, more than half of NFL games were blacked out" (Kaplan). Keeping this in mind, do you think the blackout rule is still necessary to keep fans attending the games? Or, do you believe that even though the hi-def technology has made the at home experience better, and ticket prices are increasing, there is still enough interest in attending games to fill stadiums? Furthermore, are there certain teams, or professional sports in general, that you believe need the blackout rule, and others that may be fine without it? Take a look at this article and let me know your opinion on the future of game attendance and the blackout policy.
Kaplan, Daniel. "As NFL Looks to Pack Stadiums, Critics Line up against Blackout Policy in Comments to FCC." SportsBusiness Daily. Street and Smith, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
Raney, Arthur A., and Jennings Bryant. Handbook of Sports and Media. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2006. Print.
I like how you brought up the high-definition T.V. factor in relation to live sports attendance. I personally enjoy going to games, but it is often expensive, inconvenient and not always feasible to attend many games. Sometimes the trek into the city to go see the Yankees or Mets is annoying, and the option of watching it on T.V. is more enticing. However, I enjoyed your article on sports leagues blacking out games. It seems like a very narrow-minded approach to increasing stadium attendance. Limiting the games televised would be frustrating, and my personal solution would not be to go and spend money to attend a live game. I like your point about the increasing ticket prices and decreasing attendance, doesn't it make more economical sense to decrease the price of a ticket in order to sell more? It has to be financially more beneficial than having most of the audience watch games from home. I think the televising of sports has clearly changed the popularity and notoriety of sports around the world. However, I do think a better solution needs to be devised in order to find a balance between attending live games and having the ability to watch them from home without sports league's alienating their fans.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic you blogged about Natalie. I just heard about the NFL's blackout policy a year or two ago and couldn't believe it. Showing the games on television helps earn the team fans, so it seems counterproductive to blackout the broadcast if you can't get enough fans to go to the game. I could see it snowballing such that fans aren't going to the games OR watching them on tv. My opinion is that neither HD TV nor 3D TV are going to replace going to the games as long as ticket prices remain reasonable. For how great technology is, broadcasters still can't recreate the excitement and experience of actually being at the game. Certain sports leagues should worry about fans staying home more than others, though. Hockey for example is infinitely better to watch at the arena than on TV because it's fast pace is so jarring on camera and it's hard to follow the puck. Football however was practically built for the TV format. The green rectangular field translates very well to camera. timeouts and quarters provide ample time for stations to sell advertising. For these reasons, the NFL should rightfully be concerned about fans becoming glued to their TV sets on Sundays. The best way to deal with the issue though is to make tickets affordable, not to blackout the games.
DeleteI also think this is a very interesting topic, and what I think is even more interesting is that even players are saying that the blackout is ridiculous! I agree with that statement. I also agree with everything Jon is saying. There is absolutely nothing like going to a Jets game and feeling that indescribable feeling of togetherness that you have with your fellow fans. When you watch a JETS game on TV you can actually hear the fans screaming "J.E.T.S JETS JETS JETS" and I have never thought of a time when I was watching a game and did not say "damn I really wish I was at this game!" TV does not compare, it just doesn't. If anything, not only does it bring in fans like Jon said, but it makes me want to attend more because of how upsetting it is not to be there and to watch it second hand through a television. I know I used football as an example but I believe this with any sport. Watching baseball on TV is (in my opinion) dreadful. Going to a game, grabbing a few beers and chanting with the stadium is way more of an exciting experience. I definitely agree that ticket prices need to be lowered in order for there to be more attendance. That is the solution to this dilemma. The blacking out of games would put a bad taste in the public's mouth and I personally think fans would resent the sport rather than love it more.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Jon that the best way for teams to solve their issues of dwindling attendance is to lower the cost of tickets. This really is only a problem in the NFL; there are only eight home games per season, so teams really need their games to sell out each one of them. In baseball, there are 81 home games, so not selling out every game is not a huge deal.
ReplyDeleteI haven't attended a professional game in about five years. I live about two hours away from both Fenway Park and the Meadowlands (the two places I'd go to see a game), and this is not convenient for me. In addition, the cost of the entire experience is simply too much for me to justify. I don't have high-definition TV in my house, and I still prefer the experience of watching a football game at home. Graphics on TV showing the first-down line, stats, replays, and everything else that goes along with a good broadcast more than compensates for not being in the stadium. Food doesn't cost $20 at home, and there are no lines for the bathroom.
I understand why NFL teams want to black out games, but at some point the effort becomes counterproductive. If the league is going to black out every one of my team's home games, that would make me probably even less likely to go watch it in person, and more likely to make me go find an illegal stream of the game online.
-- Kyle Brennan